Results 5,541-5,560 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I suggest to Dr. Neavyn that he does not delay any longer on this matter.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The point I make about the operation of the organisation is designed to be in a more general governance and management sense and not just necessarily in respect of expenditure. I note some of the queried expenditure in respect of publicity and public relations. It seems this has been offset as it is not included in the claim against the former president. Did the organisation get to the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was that another systems failure?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did Dr. Neavyn seek an answer?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is not a very satisfactory response.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Who would have taken the decision not to go to tender?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: By whom was the decision made?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: These matters were apparently sidelined and not included in the bill of claims because there was no personal gain involved.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is very impressive. Will Dr. Neavyn tell us about Bracken Public Relations Limited?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Where is it based?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am simply choosing this company as an example. Given that there was no tendering, was there a particular reason for availing of its services?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is a great pity Dr. Neavyn cannot provide more insight in this regard. For anybody reviewing the figures the individual payments to PR companies of €37,000, €13,000 and so on are, on one level, quite modest. However, when one sees that tenders were not entered into and procedures were not followed, there is a question mark as to why that was the case. Was there, for...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I would have thought Dr. Neavyn would be more persistent in his questioning around these issues in order to be satisfied as to whether anything untoward was at play. I am disappointed that he cannot give an answer on that point.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 78 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Matters Arising out of Education Audits (Resumed) (10 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: To be clear, I am not using this committee to insinuate anything untoward here. However, we would expect a better answer than simply saying there was no tender because there was no tender. These decisions were apparently made by somebody in the president's office.

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Today, citizens throughout this State needed to hear a message of hope. The elderly, the unemployed, families in mortgage distress and households struggling to survive needed to see actions that would inspire confidence. The Taoiseach needed to take decisions that would give some relief to families and workers who have been battered by the austerity budgets during his time in government....

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Sinn Féin’s budget 2014 proposals are truly fair because we sought to give low and middle income families a break by putting money back into their pockets. The Government could have taken the almost 300,000 of the lowest paid workers out of the universal social charge net. It could have honourably reversed its cut to the respite grant and given carers a break. The Government...

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Could it be that the Government holds the people in contempt? The social welfare budget is to be cut by €290 million. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, and the great champions of working people in the Labour Party stand over that. It is abundantly clear that the Government has a hang-up and problem with young people. I am not sure what they have done. The...

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: People in that age group who have seen their friends forced to leave this country en masse because of the failures of the Government, Fianna Fáil and politics in this State will be thinking something along those lines. The Government will have to give an explanation to those people and to their families as to why it was deemed appropriate to target them in this way. I cannot think of a...

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Pardon?

Financial Resolutions 2014 - Budget Statement 2014 (15 Oct 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Government removed the telephone allowance from older people. That will cause them huge distress and grief.